Beastmaster of the Ages

Eminent Jiguang picked up her transmission stone. The figure within it seemed panicked as he said, ”Eminent Jiguang, bad news! Yumo Xue broke through to the second level of the Foundation stage! He defeated Qitian Jian at the Ascension Colosseum and rose to first place!”

”What...!” Both Eminent Jiguang and Suishen Yao seemed stunned by the news.

”It’s fine, Yaoyao. Let’s stay calm,” Eminent Jiguang said as she held her niece’s hand, though she didn’t seem all that calm herself.

”The heavens want to doom me....” Suishen Yao seemed to have suffered a huge blow. ”Yumo Xue... of all the days he could’ve broken through!”

The glow in her eyes considerably dulled. Right as Tianming thought that she would give up and accept her fate, however, resolution shone through her eyes. ”There’s no choice. I can’t back off now and waste the past year of effort.”

”That’s right! Think about it. You broke through yourself, so you’ve also grown. There’s no saying that he’s definitely grown more than you. You still have hope!” Eminent Jiguang encouraged.

”Why don’t you give me any encouragement?” Suishen Yao asked Tianming, biting her lip.

He scratched his head and said, ”You managed to muster your own dedication, so it didn’t seem necessary. However, I’ll go with you.”

”Okay!” She took a deep breath.

”You’re the Little Demon King of Myriadpath Valley, aren’t you? Show me some of that spunk. Since when have you been so afraid of others?” Tianming said.

”You’re right! Yumo Xue’s nothing!” She seemed to have recovered most of her bravado. ”They haven’t left the colosseum yet, right? I’ll fight him to the death!”

Suishen Yao didn’t want to wait even a second. She didn’t wait for Tianming and Eminent Jiguang and immediately left. This was her only way out.

Tianming followed her and turned back, only to notice a look of worry in Eminent Jiguang’s eyes. ”Let’s go.”

”Okay!” She took a deep breath and tagged along. She knew that Suishen Yao’s hopes had been greatly dashed. It was rather unlikely that she would be able to defeat Yumo Xue, but she just couldn’t bring herself to say it. All she could do was support her niece at the juncture of her fate.

***

What they didn’t expect was that they would run into Suishen Yue and his mother, Eminent Jinying, right outside the Jiguang Sea. There was only a little more than ten days before the wedding, so they seemed rather excited. They brightly smiled when they spotted Eminent Jiguang and Suishen Yao.

The lady in gold came to hold Suishen Yao’s hand. ”Yaoyao, you came out at just the right time. Your wedding with my son is in thirteen days. Your father said that you should also prepare with us. You have to be there to try out the makeup and ornaments.”

Suishen Yao had met the woman she’d always hated at her most heated. Yumo Xue’s breakthrough had already greatly soured her mood, so she had limited patience to spare. In fact, she felt utter disgust at the sight of the two and snapped, ”Fuck off!”

She shook her hand off, much to the shock of Eminent Jinying. The eminent forced her rage down and said, ”Yaoyao, how can you say that to your aunt?”

She wouldn’t just be an aunt in a few more days, but a mother-in-law. But while she

could take it, Suishen Yue had hit his breaking point from hearing all those rumors about Suishen Yao and Tianming. Not to mention, he had never been someone with great tolerance. He roared, ”Suishen Yao, what’s with that attitude? That’s my mother you’re talking to! Have you no respect for your elders?!” Even his mother was shocked by the outburst.

Suishen Yao smirked and said, ”Suishen Yue, you dare to shout at me? Aren’t you trying to keep up your facade as a gentleman anymore?”

Eminent Jinying immediately had her son stop. ”Little Yue, Yaoyao’s just in a bad mood and made a blunder. You can’t forget decorum and shout like that.”

Suishen Yue could only hold back. With so few days remaining, he couldn’t afford to slip up.

Suishen Yao added, ”I’m not just in a bad mood. I’m in a bad mood because I saw you two. Get out of my face. Even dogs know not to stand in the middle of my path.”

She pushed Eminent Jinying to the side and flew past her. The eminent’s eyes let out a most vile hatred for the slightest moment, but she swallowed her rage and endured it. Once she marries into our family, you’ll see how we educate you! the mother and son thought in unison.

Even though they didn’t dare to touch Suishen Yao, their expressions turned cold when they saw Eminent Jiguang and Tianming. Eminent Jinying groaned, ”Eminent Jiguang, you’ve been the subject of a lot of rumors lately. It’s all your fault Yaoyao ended up this way. I’ll tell your dad about everything you’ve done!”

”See if I care. It’s not like you’ve never done that before, heh.” Eminent Jiguang didn’t bother putting up any pretenses against her. She called out to Tianming and went around Eminent Jinying.

Tianming crossed gazes with Suishen Yue for a single instant and immediately saw the unveiled killing intent. With a whisper, he asked, ”Why do the two of you hate Suishen Yue’s mother so much?”

”She’s a calculating vixen. If you heard about what she’s done, you’d definitely be grossed out. I’d feel dirty just by recounting it. Most of Yaoyao’s bad impression of Suishen Yue came from his mother,” Eminent Jiguang said. After a pause, she added, ”Naturally, mine, too. Someone like her can’t possibly raise a good son. Don’t be fooled by Suishen Yue’s seemingly honest character. His crookedness is bone deep. He might be able to trick my brother, but not me.”

”Is Eminent Ranxing that easy to fool?” Tianming didn’t get it.

”He isn’t. He knows everything, he just loves someone else more than his own children.” Eminent Jiguang sounded a little frustrated and chuckled in resignation. ”Yaoyao might’ve been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she also has a terrible fate. Let’s see how it turns out this time.”

”Okay....”

Behind them, Suishen Yue said, ”I heard Yumo Xue broke through and defeated Qitian Jian. You aren’t rushing to the Ascension Colosseum, are you?” They ignored him, but he smiled. ”Very well. I’ll go too and see you despair.”